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Wednesday, March 09, 2011

Growing My Patience

I don't know why I don't let my kids cook. I try SO HARD to be patient with it. I've always been the kind of person that doesn't like other people in the kitchen. And if I have someone over who wants to talk the whole time I'm cooking, I usually screw it up. When they talk I give grunts for answers. I figure (In italian voice) "Well, hey. You want grunts or burned food? Whadda ya want, eh? Thinkaboudit!"

I really want to reverse this mentality and actually TEACH my kids to cook. Ivy was begging and begging to help me make pancakes. Okay, pancakes are easy. I only use the Krusteaz easy mix from Sam's Club. So I gave her a go at it. I had to hold my frustration in at her walking away from the stove letting them burn. Then turning them way to early. But after about 6 or 7 pancakes she got the idea. You don't walk away from the stove and you have to watch the food. :) See? Turning a simple 15 minute affair into AN HOUR is not so bad. Erk, erk....I can painfully feel my patience growing.

Ashley took the pancakes that were crumbled apart and threw it took the chickens. That's why she is sitting in the window. So cute. Today was just a really quiet and peaceful day. I started my day with a blessing that went like this....

"Today is going to be a good day, Caleb's fever will go down and his darn tooth will come through, house will be clean, dinner will be made in advance, everyone will be kept safe, clothes will be set out early for church and the dog will stop passing gas." (Facebook status even before I had coffee)

So far, it's been a beautiful and peaceful day. Caleb's fever has gone down. House is getting somewhatkinda clean. Dinner is about to be made and as soon as Caleb wakes up I will set out all the church clothes. Even better, my dog hasn't been setting off fumes of death yet. (It came from changing it dog food). Everyone should start their day with a positive attitude spoken out loud. Just somethin' about it.

Ivy's first pancakes

But you know, everyone has to learn some time. Sadly for me learning to cook came way later in my marriage. I LOVED to bake but hated to cook. We had out at least 3 to 4 dinners a week. I feel bad looking back on it but my husband said it was also because we loved discovering to places and having family adventures. We don't go out nearly as much as we used to. I don't know. I guess we just really enjoy each other at home now and have learned to have our own adventures at home. Gosh, it's so much cheaper too.

After practice. Yay Ivy!

After seeing Ivy try and try to make better pancakes and see her succeed, I thought to myself "Everyone deserves a chance to learn. Someone just needs to teach them." What if I kept turning then down in the kitchen and then one day ask and they say "What? Me? Why?" Yeeeeeeeeahhh, after just having a quick vision on the teen years coming I should really take their eagerness and be willing to teach. Time to grow my patience and this is the only way to do it. Going out of my comfort zone.